Methodology for Urbanism: Introduction

Photo: ChernobylBob at Flickr

Methodology for Urbanism Prepared by Roberto Rocco Chair Spatial Planning and Strategy, TU Delft

Challenge the future

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What is

design?

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Is design the visual artifact? (drawings, models, renderings?)

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Is design the visual representation of something one has invented or imagined?

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Or is design the combination of the visual representation of the artifact and the description of the processes and uses that it might facilitate?

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IN SHORT: the spatial organization of PROCESSES?

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What is

URBANISM?

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What do you

need to learn in order to be an “urbanist”?

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What are the

qualifications you need to have at the end of the Masters course at TU Delft?

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Apart from skills and

tools, what else do you need to learn to be a good urbanist?

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What is the difference between a professional education (HBO) and a higher education degree (university)?

What does “Master of Science” mean?

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At the end of the TU Delft course, you will be a... ?

Welcome to the methodology course!

Roberto Rocco Machiel van Dorst Egbert Stolk Vincent Nadin Spatial Planning and Spatial Planning and Environmental Environmental Strategy Technology and Design Technology and Design Strategy

Students who raise the alarm

I don’t know nothing!

I know it all...

You need to have a critical attitude, combined with an open and inquisitive mind.

Einstein said that:

imagination is important than knowledge

more

But there was more to it!

We believe that knowledge propels imagination and creativity and makes your doing relevant to the world

Knowledge is the raw material of imagination.

Ya Betcha!

?

But, what is Knowledge?

It is what we know (for a fact), as opposed to what we believe or assume (which is subjective and could very well be wrong!) (but actually...there is a lot of discussion about the essence of knowledge, starting from Plato onwards, and even before!)

Hmmmm

Knowledge is true justified belief Plato

c. 428–427 BC, to c. 348–347 BC, Athens

Knowledge is active In this course

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engagement with the object to be known.

This means that you need to ‘work’ in order to know: to study, to research, to draw, to design, to discuss and to communicate.

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(That’s why we have this course: to understand different ways of knowing in Urbanism)

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Knowledge exists inter-subjectively and through communication.

This means that knowledge is a construction between you, the object and others (in our case, your colleagues and teachers. Later, your clients or users).

To ‘know’ means to be able to communicate that knowledge.

In this perspective Knowledge that exists only in your head is IRRELEVANT, unless it manifests itself in your DOING and then can be accessed by others.

And different ways to get to that KNOWLEDGE But there are different kinds of KNOWLEDGE

Have a look at the following picture What knowledge is contained in the picture?

What can you know?

Exercise from STAINTON-ROGERS, W. (2006), Logics of Enquiry, in Doing Postgraduate Research , Ed. Stephen Potter, London: Sage.

David Goldblatt, "Saturday Morning at the Hypermarket: Semi-final of the Miss Lovely Legs Competition, Boksburg, Transvaal, 28 June 1980"

Last night, Charmaine du Preez was crowned Miss Lovely Legs Noksburg for 1974. Charmaine is a 2 nd year student at Sukses secretarial College and says her hobbies are reading, watching films and [going to] the gym. Charmaine said the she was thrilled that the judges chose her out of so many deserving competitors and would try her utmost to live up to everything expected of her during her reign.

Exercise from STAINTON-ROGERS, W. (2006), Logics of Enquiry, in Doing Postgraduate Research , Ed. Stephen Potter, London: Sage.

Now read the following texts written about the photography and decide which one comes closest to the knowledge gained? What are other insights you can have by reading these commentaries?

(Patsy Smith-Collins, International Journal of Feminist Studies)

Exercise from STAINTON-ROGERS, W. (2006), Logics of Enquiry, in Doing Postgraduate Research , Ed. Stephen Potter, London: Sage.

Although one does not want to further denigrate the participants in such contests, nor ascribe personally malign motives to those who consume those images, the political implications of such ‘cattle parades’ are inescapable: women are turned into objects in a maledominated world. Such practices are the visible manifestations of an all-pervasive patriarchal culture.

(Mandla Nkosi, Art World)

Exercise from STAINTON-ROGERS, W. (2006), Logics of Enquiry, in Doing Postgraduate Research , Ed. Stephen Potter, London: Sage.

In this photograph, Goldblatt again explores the semiotic (and now perhaps even nostalgic?) possibilities of 1970s suburbia, so fetchingly oblivious of the larger political forces playing themselves out in the context of apartheid South Africa. The careful juxtaposition of the foregrounded white contestants and the predominantly black audience plays with the irony of the white culture as an object of black consumption.

Which one is the right answer?

It all depends on the QUESTION one is asking!

Which one is the right question?

That QUESTION depends on your ‘world view’, that is, from what perspective you approach the subject *. These different world views result in different ‘logics of enquiry’

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? ?

OTB Chair: Urban an Regional Development

Sect ion :S Prof. Wil Zonneveld pa tia l

OTB Chair: Neighbourhood Change and Housing

Chair: Cultural History & Design

Prof. Maarten van Ham

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Prof. Eric Luiten

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Prof. Vincent Nadin

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Prof. Wouter Vanstiphout t Sec ion: Urban esi gn

Chair: Urban Design

Prof. Han Meyer

Prof. Henco Bekkering

Chair: The Why Factory

Prof. Dirk Sijmons

Section:

Urba n

Chair: Environmental Technology Prof. Arjan van Timmeren

Section:

Envi ron m

Prof. Winy Maas

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Chair: Theory & Methods

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Chair: Design & Politics

Chair: Landscape Architecture

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URBANISM @ TU DELFT

rganisational Tree of the Department of Urbanism, TU Delft, jan 2013 by Roberto Rocco

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Chair: Spatial Planning & Strategy

The Practical Question

The Theoretical Question

design oriented

theory oriented

HOW TO?

WHAT IS?

How to design a

What is a child-

child-friendly city?

friendly city?

Now, what questions can be asked by looking at this picture?

Flatjes in de Kruiskamp Amersfoort, The Netherlands. Â (Foto Chantal Spieard, Source: NCR Handelsblad, 21 Jan 2011.

Looking at the big picture

Example of primary source of data, information and policies

Different logics of enquiry do not stem only from different objects of enquiry

Different logics of enquiry ... also stem from different world views and communities of practice

Increasing complexity of space ✤

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The increasing complexity of living environments and the tools to understand them results in increasingly complex research paradigms.

After all, there are new tools for analysis, new combinations of disciplines and new QUESTIONS that need to be answered.

Increasing complexity?

Sao Paulo, Brazil, pop. 18 million (2010)

But THIS is not so complex... Or is it?

Delft, The Netherlands, pop.: 96.000 (2008)

Delft

Urbanisation in the Netherlands, 1950

Delft

Urbanisation in the Netherlands, 2010

Delft

Urbanisation in the Randstad, 1950

Delft

Urbanisation in the Randstad, 2010

Complex enough for you?

Commuting patterns in The Randstad (2008), source: VROM.

Was this complex already? Just wait...

KLM Routes 1964

KLM Routes 2004

Metropolitain de Paris 2005

Tokyo Subway system 2008

Increasing complexity ✤

New questions need to be answered by different kinds of people

The increasing complexity of research paradigms in urbanism results in the perception that a practical education on design skills alone is insufficient to deal with the broader task at hand:

The broader task at hand ✤

To understand the context, the role and wishes of stakeholders and the socio-political forces that ultimately produce ‘real world’ space in order to be able to intervene effectively and in And I have to do communication with all this? stakeholders

What (the hell) do we want with this course?

We want you! ✤

1. to develop your critical thinking skills

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2. to be able to understand different worldviews and different logics of enquiry deriving from them

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3. to be able to COMMUNICATE your ideas and results using image and text.

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4. To understand the ethical issues involved in the activity

We want you to make relevant connections between RESEARCH and DESIGN in order to Enhance your creativity &

Fundament your designs But we also hope you can have a better

understanding of your role as a reflective and responsible practitioner later on.

So, why this course? ✤

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To REFLECT on the character and content of the education given in the Urbanism department (What do we learn from whom and why?)

To UNDERSTAND the importance and the usefulness of an academic attitude in the university education and in the professional practice To give INPUT to the education (What are new needs and aspirations of young urban planners and designers?)

To prepare for the GRADUATION YEAR and beyond

Current structure of the master in Urbanism at TU Delft

Booklet

Photo by Matt SmithŠ

Thanks for listening!

Questions?

With special thanks to Matt Smith (ChernobylBob) of Gloucester, UK, whose photos adorn these pages.

Matt’s photographs are available at: www.flickr.com/photos/chernobylbob/ Prepared by Roberto Rocco, TU Delft r.c.rocco@tudelft.nl

SpatialPlanning &Strategy

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Roberto Rocco